Tag: actually autistic

faeleverte:

iamshadow21:

askanautistic:

Appreciation for all the Autistics out there who have executive functioning problems/issues with processing, remembering and organising information and as a result often feel like they frustrate others and themselves.

This is me, so much, and why I flunked high school despite testing as gifted. 😦

Thank you for this reminder. I’m stressing myself out tonight, can’t sleep, anxiety at maximum levels.

We started school this week.

Such a simple sentence. No big thing. Kids in many places did recently or will soon. But this doesn’t mark days of freedom, backpacks, books, and bullies. Because I homeschool three of my kids.

The two middle kids are profoundly gifted. They’re also neuroatypical. The youngest is also gifted, and different yet again. They just don’t “fit,” and there aren’t a lot of educational choices where I am. So I keep them home and work my tail off to keep up with their driving need to LEARN.

And it’s hard! Some days it’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. A lot of days I hate it. I’ve given up most of my plans for my life beyond kids, because I’ve got more than a decade of this ahead of me (unless miracles happen, but being practical…).

I needed this reminder. That there’s nothing wrong with these gorgeous little people. That there’s nothing wrong with me. That they deserve to grow up never feeling off or outside or broken or wrong or damaged.

To everyone who grew up the way I did, to everyone who has struggled and fought and still not been “good enough,” you’re amazing. You’re strong, and you’re perfect, and you’re all the constant reminder of why, and your stories give me strength for one more day.

I think I would have thrived in a homeschool environment, mainly because my mother is a teacher who taught us kids to read using home-made phonics cards long before we went to kindergarten. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an option for us, especially in the era before Asperger’s studies were known about in the West. I wasn’t diagnosed until I was an adult.

I have so much respect for people who homeschool their neurodiverse kids. I have known multiple internet friends over the years who have made the choice to do it. They are raising such amazing kids in an environment so precisely tailored to their kids’ strengths and learning styles, I can’t help but feel awed (and not a little jealous). I know it doesn’t suit all kids or all families, but those who I know who are doing it are doing it well and for the right reasons and their kids are thriving in a way that they possibly wouldn’t (or didn’t) in a conventional setting.

askanautistic:

Appreciation for all the Autistics out there who have executive functioning problems/issues with processing, remembering and organising information and as a result often feel like they frustrate others and themselves.

This is me, so much, and why I flunked high school despite testing as gifted. 😦

autisticadvocacy:

A Call for Solidarity with the Community of Ferguson, Missouri |

andreashettle:

autisticadvocacy:

For the last few days, like many other disenfranchised communities across the country, the disability community has watched what is happening in Ferguson, Missouri. Our hearts are heavy with sorrow, anger, and fear for what is happening to individuals, families, and communities so similar to our own.

Even following the release of the name of the police officer who was ultimately responsible for Michael Brown’s death, we must still come to terms with the tragedy itself. This is a tragedy not just because of the precious loss of life or the actions of one person, but is also a tragedy that is caused by the criminalization and dehumanization of our own citizens. It is a tragedy not only for Michael Brown’s family but for the entire country.

Perhaps, it is more honest to for us to say, it is yet another tragedy that has become all too common for communities viewed as “other” to the American majority – young men of color, people with disabilities, lgbt individuals.

“They didn’t comply.” They were “bad kids.” “They were being belligerent.”  “They looked suspicious.”

These statements that have no real discernable meaning often warrant a death sentence for the individuals upon which the observations are based.

  • Eric Garner, 43, who had asthma, was pulled to the sidewalk onto his chest and restrained in a chokehold by an officer. The medical examiner cited that Garner’s cause of death was “compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” (New York)
  • Robert Ethan Saylor, 26, who had Down syndrome, went to see a movie and refused to leave. It was customary for Saylor to see a movie twice. Deputies put Saylor on the floor, held him down, and handcuffed him with such force that he suffered a fracture in his throat cartilage and died of asphyxiation. (Maryland)
  • Keith Vidal, 18, who had schizophrenia, was tasered, then shot, and killed when his family called law enforcement for help calming their son down. Vidal’s stepfather said, “”They killed my son in cold blood. We called for help, and they killed my son.” (North Carolina)
  • Gilberto Powell, 22, who has Down Syndrome, was beaten by police outside his home and was left with horrible bruises and scars on his face when law enforcement suspected he was carrying a weapon and tried to pat Powell down. Powell did not understand and ran. The suspicious bulge in his pants? It was a colostomy bag. (Florida)
  • Barry Montgomery, 29, who has schizophrenia, Tourette’s syndrome, and is non-verbal ,was harassed and then beaten and tasered for 25 minutes by sheriff officers when he was confronted about the smell of marijuana in his general area, and Montgomery did not respond. Montgomery sustained massive permanent injuries. (California)

Eric Garner, Ethan Saylor, Keith Vidal, Gilberto Powell, and Barry Montgomery – these are the names of a few people with disabilities who were brutally injured and killed because of who they are. There are many who were lost before them, and there are certainly others whose names we will never know because the brutality against them was never reported.

When a system that is designed to protect and serve is fueled by fear and anger, that is not merely a surmountable problem. It is a catastrophic failure of the system, and it demands transformation. Such a failure represents a lack of leadership, a corruption of institutions, and a distressing willingness to purposely and violently silence the voices of entire communities marked as different, non-compliant, and suspicious.

Perhaps what is most disconcerting however, is that the failure to support our young men of color, who are gay who have disabilities, who are poor, is not just to be laid at the feet of an intolerant police force, self-interested politicos or even a sensational hungry media. The fault lies in our own hearts.We have not taken enough of the responsibility to manage and maintain the values that we believe are right. We have been complacent in our engagement and been comfortable enough to declare that the problems are with other people. We have allowed ourselves to be separated into tiny groups of associated individuals rather than communities participating in a collective conversation about the state, direction and makeup of our society.

We have allowed problems of marginalization, exclusion, inaccessibility, dissemination, sexism and bigotry — problems that affect us all — to instead be addressed by a few, and have been content to say that it is a disability problem, or a race problem or gender problem or sexuality problem rather than admit that it is a problem for all of us. As members of a community that supports justice and inclusion we do not have the luxury to stand by when injustice is blatantly taking place in any form, and nor should we be satisfied to wait for other communities to ask for our help.

Civil rights, respect, and justice are due to all.   We will not remain silent. The disability community, like the LGBT community, and so many others around the country, stands with the family of Michael Brown and with the people of Ferguson, Missouri. We call on the national and local media to be responsible and steadfast in their coverage of this story and others like it. We call on policy makers on all levels of American government not to shrink from action, and we are deeply grateful to Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice for their immediate commitment to a thorough investigation. Let us all come together, not only to rally and mourn but also to plan for action and collaboration.

Lastly, we specifically invoke the words of Justin Dart in “a call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to create a revolution that will empower every single human being to govern his or her life, to govern the society and to be fully productive of life quality for self and for all.”

The Lead On Network
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Ollibean
Washington Metro Disabled Students Collective
Queerability
Ramp Your Voice!
Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf (HEARD)

If you are a disability organization and interested in signing on to this statement, please contact us at LeadOnUpdate@gmail.com.  If you are an individual with a disability who cares about this issue and supports this statement please share it widely.  Also, we know you have your own thoughts to express and urge you to do so in the comments. We will not remain silent! The events of the last week touch us all.

We are honored to join leadonupdate, queerability, and others in signing on to this letter of solidarity with the Community of Ferguson, MO. Not only do we face related struggles, but there are undoubtedly Autistics in Ferguson, and definitely Autistics of Color who face the issues being struggled with and protested against in Ferguson across the nation and the world.

If you are a disability org, please join us in signing on to this letter. Instructions are at the end of the text. 

Reasons to support this sign-on letter:

  1. SOLIDARITY, All marginalized communities ought to stand in solidarity with each other;
  2. INTERSECTIONALITY, When racism prevails, this often has the most disproportionate impact on people of color with disabilities—disabled people of color cannot be freed until freed of both ableism AND racism;
  3. ITS TIME FOR PAYBACK, because people with disabilities (of all races) wouldn’t have some of the rights we enjoy today in the U.S. if it wasn’t for the help we received from Black Panthers in 1977: http://socialismartnature.tumblr.com/post/76951614367/black-history-of-504-sit-in-for-disability-rights-more   So if you’re thinking, “Do we really “need” to get into what’s happening in Ferguson” … well, the Black Panthers didn’t really “need” to get into the 1977 section 504 disability rights sit-in protest either, but they still did.  And they did it with actual dollars and cents that I’m sure they could have found a thousand other uses for that were more directly and more unmistakably relevant to their own struggles for the liberation of black people in America.  The least we can do in return is to talk to disability organizations you’re familiar with about signing onto this sign on letter.  Let the people of Ferguson know they’re not alone in their struggle.

Reblogging this again for added info.

autisticadvocacy:

A Call for Solidarity with the Community of Ferguson, Missouri |

For the last few days, like many other disenfranchised communities across the country, the disability community has watched what is happening in Ferguson, Missouri. Our hearts are heavy with sorrow, anger, and fear for what is happening to individuals, families, and communities so similar to our own.

Even following the release of the name of the police officer who was ultimately responsible for Michael Brown’s death, we must still come to terms with the tragedy itself. This is a tragedy not just because of the precious loss of life or the actions of one person, but is also a tragedy that is caused by the criminalization and dehumanization of our own citizens. It is a tragedy not only for Michael Brown’s family but for the entire country.

Perhaps, it is more honest to for us to say, it is yet another tragedy that has become all too common for communities viewed as “other” to the American majority – young men of color, people with disabilities, lgbt individuals.

“They didn’t comply.” They were “bad kids.” “They were being belligerent.”  “They looked suspicious.”

These statements that have no real discernable meaning often warrant a death sentence for the individuals upon which the observations are based.

  • Eric Garner, 43, who had asthma, was pulled to the sidewalk onto his chest and restrained in a chokehold by an officer. The medical examiner cited that Garner’s cause of death was “compression of neck (choke hold), compression of chest and prone positioning during physical restraint by police.” (New York)
  • Robert Ethan Saylor, 26, who had Down syndrome, went to see a movie and refused to leave. It was customary for Saylor to see a movie twice. Deputies put Saylor on the floor, held him down, and handcuffed him with such force that he suffered a fracture in his throat cartilage and died of asphyxiation. (Maryland)
  • Keith Vidal, 18, who had schizophrenia, was tasered, then shot, and killed when his family called law enforcement for help calming their son down. Vidal’s stepfather said, “”They killed my son in cold blood. We called for help, and they killed my son.” (North Carolina)
  • Gilberto Powell, 22, who has Down Syndrome, was beaten by police outside his home and was left with horrible bruises and scars on his face when law enforcement suspected he was carrying a weapon and tried to pat Powell down. Powell did not understand and ran. The suspicious bulge in his pants? It was a colostomy bag. (Florida)
  • Barry Montgomery, 29, who has schizophrenia, Tourette’s syndrome, and is non-verbal ,was harassed and then beaten and tasered for 25 minutes by sheriff officers when he was confronted about the smell of marijuana in his general area, and Montgomery did not respond. Montgomery sustained massive permanent injuries. (California)

Eric Garner, Ethan Saylor, Keith Vidal, Gilberto Powell, and Barry Montgomery – these are the names of a few people with disabilities who were brutally injured and killed because of who they are. There are many who were lost before them, and there are certainly others whose names we will never know because the brutality against them was never reported.

When a system that is designed to protect and serve is fueled by fear and anger, that is not merely a surmountable problem. It is a catastrophic failure of the system, and it demands transformation. Such a failure represents a lack of leadership, a corruption of institutions, and a distressing willingness to purposely and violently silence the voices of entire communities marked as different, non-compliant, and suspicious.

Perhaps what is most disconcerting however, is that the failure to support our young men of color, who are gay who have disabilities, who are poor, is not just to be laid at the feet of an intolerant police force, self-interested politicos or even a sensational hungry media. The fault lies in our own hearts.We have not taken enough of the responsibility to manage and maintain the values that we believe are right. We have been complacent in our engagement and been comfortable enough to declare that the problems are with other people. We have allowed ourselves to be separated into tiny groups of associated individuals rather than communities participating in a collective conversation about the state, direction and makeup of our society.

We have allowed problems of marginalization, exclusion, inaccessibility, dissemination, sexism and bigotry — problems that affect us all — to instead be addressed by a few, and have been content to say that it is a disability problem, or a race problem or gender problem or sexuality problem rather than admit that it is a problem for all of us. As members of a community that supports justice and inclusion we do not have the luxury to stand by when injustice is blatantly taking place in any form, and nor should we be satisfied to wait for other communities to ask for our help.

Civil rights, respect, and justice are due to all.   We will not remain silent. The disability community, like the LGBT community, and so many others around the country, stands with the family of Michael Brown and with the people of Ferguson, Missouri. We call on the national and local media to be responsible and steadfast in their coverage of this story and others like it. We call on policy makers on all levels of American government not to shrink from action, and we are deeply grateful to Attorney General Eric Holder and the Department of Justice for their immediate commitment to a thorough investigation. Let us all come together, not only to rally and mourn but also to plan for action and collaboration.

Lastly, we specifically invoke the words of Justin Dart in “a call for solidarity among all who love justice, all who love life, to create a revolution that will empower every single human being to govern his or her life, to govern the society and to be fully productive of life quality for self and for all.”

The Lead On Network
Autistic Self Advocacy Network
Ollibean
Washington Metro Disabled Students Collective
Queerability
Ramp Your Voice!
Helping Educate to Advance the Rights of the Deaf (HEARD)

If you are a disability organization and interested in signing on to this statement, please contact us at LeadOnUpdate@gmail.com.  If you are an individual with a disability who cares about this issue and supports this statement please share it widely.  Also, we know you have your own thoughts to express and urge you to do so in the comments. We will not remain silent! The events of the last week touch us all.

We are honored to join leadonupdate, queerability, and others in signing on to this letter of solidarity with the Community of Ferguson, MO. Not only do we face related struggles, but there are undoubtedly Autistics in Ferguson, and definitely Autistics of Color who face the issues being struggled with and protested against in Ferguson across the nation and the world.

If you are a disability org, please join us in signing on to this letter. Instructions are at the end of the text. 

Things You Can do to Help Disabled People That Don’t Cost A Cent

neurodiversitysci:

  • Do not talk about an obviously disabled person in front of them as if they can’t hear or understand you.
  • Do not talk to a disabled person’s companion instead of them.  
  • Ask permission before touching people, or their wheelchairs/other equipment. Even if you want to help.
  • Ask disabled people about their lives and really listen to their answers.  (Within reason. Asking people personal questions about their sex lives, for example, is rude unless you are very close to them and they’ve communicated they’re OK with that).
  • Listen to what they say whether they are speaking, writing, typing, using text to speech, using a letterboard, using PECS, gesturing, using sign language, or using any other form of communication.  People who cannot speak can still communicate.
  • Stand up for people you see getting bullied.
  • Understand that disabled people don’t just need friends, they can be friends, too.
  • Every public place does not need to have loud, blaring music and TVs with flashing screens.  
  • If you blog, put bright, flashing images that can trigger seizures under a cut so that people with seizures can avoid looking at them.
  • If a job can possibly be done without a person driving, don’t require candidates to drive/have a driver’s license, and don’t interview candidates and then reject them because they don’t drive.
  • When talking to someone who has trouble speaking or stutters, and takes a long time to speak, wait for them to answer. Don’t keep repeating the question or pressuring them. Yes, if you’re like me and your mind is going really fast and you forget what people are saying if they take too long, it can be hard to be patient.  Do it anyway.
  • If you are talking to a deaf person, make it easier for them to lip-read by facing towards them while looking at them, and not covering your mouth with your hands.
  • If you are talking to someone with hearing impairment or auditory processing disorder, it is more helpful to slow down or rephrase what you’re saying than to just speak more loudly.  
  • Some disabled people have difficulty understanding nonliteral language such as metaphors and idioms (e.g., “a stitch in time saves nine”). If you’re talking to someone like this, try explaining what you mean by these figures of speech, or just not using them.
  • Recognize that failure to make eye contact does not mean someone is lying to you. It may be uncomfortable for them.
  • Recognize that unwillingness to go out to loud, crowded bars does not mean someone isn’t interested in socializing with you.
  • If people have difficulty spelling, or using the appropriate jargon/terminology for your social group, do not assume they’re stupid.  You may need to paraphrase some “jargon” for them.
  • Recognize that a person can need time alone and it doesn’t mean they don’t like you or want to be with you. It’s just something they need so they can function at their best.
  • If a person does not recognize you, do not assume they don’t care about you.  They may be face-blind.
  • If a person does not remember your birthday (or other major names, numbers, or dates) do not assume they don’t care about you. They may simply have a bad memory.
  • Understand that a disabled person’s talents, however esoteric, are real, not unimportant “splinter skills.”
  • Colorblindness affects more than just knowing what color something is.  To a colorblind person, colors that they can’t see will look the same if they have the same degree of lightness/darkness.  That means that to a red-green colorblind person, a red rose on a green background will blend in instead of contrast starkly, and the Chicago CTA El map will be difficult to understand.  Understand that something that stands out to you and seems obvious may literally not be visible to a colorblind person.
  • Accept stimming.
  • Don’t tell them “but you look so normal.” But, if they accomplish something you know they were working really hard to do, it’s great to compliment them on it.
  • Understand that a person can be working incredibly hard to do something and may still not perform as well as you’d like them to, as well as the average person would, or as well as the situation demands.
  • If someone has a major medical problem, disability, or chronic illness, then just eating some special healthy diet or exercising more isn’t going to cure it. It might help, it might hurt, it might do nothing, but they’ve probably heard it before, and it’s none of your business in any case.
  • A person with OCD knows that checking or counting or whatever compulsion they perform won’t really prevent disaster from happening, it’s just a compulsion. That doesn’t stop them from feeling the need to do it anyway.  A person with anxiety may know at least some of their fears are irrational or unlikely to occur. That doesn’t stop them from feeling anxious.  A person with trichotillomania may know it hurts them to pull out their hair or pick at their skin, but they have trouble stopping themselves anyway.  A depressed person may know they would feel better if they got out of their house and talked to people, but that doesn’t make them feel any more up to doing those things. A person who hallucinates may know the hallucinations aren’t real, but that doesn’t make them go away or feel less upsetting.  You see the pattern?  You can’t cure people with mental illnesses by telling them they’re being irrational or hurting themselves.  If it were that easy, they’d have cured themselves already.
  • Do not tell a person with ADHD or mental illness that they should not be taking medication.  This is a personal decision. Furthermore, since medications have wide-ranging effects on people’s bodies and minds and often unpleasant side effects, most people taking medications have thought through the issue, done a cost-benefit analysis, and decided that the ability to function better is worth it.  Their decision should be respected.
  • A disabled person with intellectual disability who has the academic or IQ abilities of, say, a seven year old does not actually have the mind of a seven year old. They have different life experiences, needs, stages of life, bodies, and so on.
  • If a disabled person is having a meltdown, they are not angry, they are terrified.  They’re not throwing a tantrum or being aggressive, they have gone into fight or flight. The best thing you can do is remain calm yourself and help them calm down. It may help to keep your distance, keep your voice low and calm, let them retreat to a safe place if they know to do that, or remind them to do so if they don’t.  Reasoning with them won’t work well because they’re unlikely to be able to hear and understand you.  The worst thing you can do is start yelling yourself, threatening them, be violent to them, cut off their escape route, or get right up in their personal space.  

Other ideas?  Please reblog and add more.  The more the merrier.

Incendio

Just spent TWO HOURS trying to get the fire lit, only to have it go out multiple times without warning.

Last time it happened, it sent me without really any warning into a meltdown. I threw the basketful of kindling into the fireplace and punched the shit out of our (old, hard, solid wood) doors. Emma was her awesome self, managed me wonderfully, got me through into the bedroom, wrapped me up and held me and got me to take my anxiety meds.

When I’d calmed the hell down, I decided to get up again and just deal without heat tonight, and I emerged from the bedroom to find…

a cheerfully well established fire.

I told Emma I’m expecting my Hogwarts letter any day now.

(In reality, we think it’s an air flow problem, that the air was coming down the chimney and snuffing the fire, and that Emma opening the central door to get my meds from my bag caused the chimney to pull the air through and up and out correctly, and so the fire ‘woke up’.)

(Magic powers still sounds cooler.)

All The World Save Thee And Me – IamShadow21 – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe [Archive of Our Own]

Title: All The World Save Me And Thee

Author: IamShadow21

Fandoms: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe

Category: Gen

Relationships: Skye & Agents of SHIELD Team, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons & Skye, Leo Fitz & Skye, Jemma Simmons & Skye, Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons, Phil Coulson & Skye, Skye & Grant Ward, Melinda May & Skye, Skye & Antoine Triplett

Characters: Skye (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Phil Coulson, Grant Ward, Melinda May, Antoine Triplett

Rating: General Audiences

Word Count: 1,572

Summary: She’s anticipating her first group accommodation situation since the orphanage with a degree of trepidation. Coulson doesn’t look a thing like Sister Agnes, but Skye knows from experience that that doesn’t mean anything.

Content: Canon Compliant, Season/Series 01, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Fic Exchange, autistic!Skye, autistic!Leo Fitz, autistic!Jemma Simmons, autistic!Phil Coulson, autistic!Melinda May, Autism By An Autist, The Autistic Exchange, Everyone On This Bus Is Autistic, Everyone Is Autistic Because Agents Of SHIELD, Gen Work, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Team Bonding, Team Feels, Teambuilding, Hand Flapping, Tight Spaces, Special Interests, Routine, Neurodiversity, mentions of Quiet Hands, mentions of Forced Eye Contact, Ableism, Ableist Language, Autistic People In Relationships, Autistic People Living Single, Friendship, Safe Haven, Rules

Collections: The Autistic Exchange

Reveals have gone up! Here is my Autistic Exchange fic. Go and check out the collection over on AO3, because even though it’s a tiny exchange there is a really diverse bunch of fandoms represented.

Also, if you didn’t participate (or even if you did), the prompts for the fest will be opened up for people to claim and write treats for, now that the exchange is over! So if you’re autistic and you’d like to explore one of the prompts, feel free!

All The World Save Thee And Me – IamShadow21 – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Marvel Cinematic Universe [Archive of Our Own]

A Reminder…

jabberwockypie:

getoffamyrunway:

jabberwockypie:

whatwhiteswillneverknow:

It’s okay to go up and get offline or watch Netflix during a time like this. 

It’s okay to relax and go to bed, hoping for the best.

It’s okay to protect yourself from the on-pouring of updates.

Your sanity and ability to cope is just as important.

Just know that you’re important. Mute me if you have to. 

Levy, I love you for reblogging this. I just wrote up a similar post because I wasn’t seeing any. Hugs to you.

Thank you! I feel bad for not being involved, but since I am actually in the hospital right now I’m just going on tumbler for fandom related cheering up and trying to ignore the serious stuff.

Aw, honey, I hope your head gets better. Those non-stop migraines are the worst.

I think – especially people who are socially privileged in one way or another (I’m white and cishet, for example) and try to recognize and work on that and pay attention to social issues – we can feel like we’re BAD for not being able to process or handle serious stuff.

But I think you can recognize “This is a terrible thing” even if you just can’t deal with it or process it or it’s just TOO HORRIBLE or follow the updates. I can distance myself from violence, mentally, but even I felt nauseated and furious seeing some of those pictures of how rubber or wooden bullets harmed people.

(As long as you’re not going “Oh, the police are right!” in which case I hope something bad but non-lethal happens to you.)

Bottom line is it’s AWFUL! But I feel helpless and angry and … I can’t do anything about it. I don’t have money to fund the lunch programs and stuff and just … it’s too big for me.

So you might have to use X-Kit or Tumblr Savior to block posts and/or do things that help you stay in your happy place.

For anything – whether it’s a smaller thing affecting mostly just your life or a huge problem, you NEED to be able to take care of yourself before you can take care of anything else. And recognizing your limits is part of that. YOUR mental health and well-being HAS to come before anything else.

Am I making sense? Is what I’m saying offensive?

One thing it took me a long time to learn is that IT IS OKAY TO PROTECT MYSELF. I have an anxiety disorder. I am autistic. I also, if I let myself, compulsively watch/read rolling news, because my mother compulsively watches/reads rolling news, and because I was raised in that house, I learnt that that’s what you DO if there’s shit going down. It has taken me many, many years to be able to read/watch a little, and then walk the fuck away, because if I DID walk the fuck away, I felt like I was being a bad person, and pretending that it wasn’t happening. Particularly if the thing happening was to people a different colour to me. I felt I HAD to witness it, or I was being Just Another Privileged White Person, ignoring what was happening.

After many years, I have come to a kind of a truce. I am allowed to read a little, I am allowed to make myself aware of a situation. I am allowed to sign internet petitions, and help if there is any realistic way I can help. And then I have to put it down, step back, and walk away for a while. Immerse myself in escapism; read a fic, watch a movie. Knit. And that is what I need to do to protect myself. And that’s okay. I have acknowledged the situation, and pushing myself into a day-long or days-long anxiety attack doesn’t help anyone and doesn’t make me a better person. It hurts me, and helps no one. I am allowed to protect myself.

And so are all of you. Protect yourselves. It doesn’t mean you don’t care.

autisticadvocacy:

Autism and Race Anthology || Indiegogo

autisticadvocacy:

We matter. We invite you to support us in amplifying the voices of autistic people of color.

Lydia Brown and Autism Women’s Network is raising money to produce an anthology on Race and Autism! Please check it out and consider donating- it should be a very valuable resource for the community, particularly for members of the community who are often over shadowed and under represented. 

From Lydia’s Facebook timeline:

Submissions will be due before the end of this year — stay tuned for more detailed information on how to submit. 

Submissions will be welcome from anyone who identifies as both autistic (self-identified regardless of formal diagnosis) and some kind of person of color, including indigenous and mixed-race people. 

Please consider sharing with your networks!

I am not of colour, personally, but I am signal boosting it in the hopes that someone who *is* will see this and want to participate! There isn’t much out there by autistic people (compared to parental and clinical accounts) and there’s even less from non-white sources, so let’s spread the details of this around to help change that and get this published.